Jinki Extend

As a fan of any Genre entertainment, you learn to accept, if not fully embrace, a set of well-worn, even clichéd, tropes. And so it is with Mecha Anime. Giant robot lovers come to expect certain things. There will be a wide-eyed, pre-pubescent naïf who is destined to become an unlikely mech pilot, by dint of hard work, a positive attitude (against all odds), and some unique, inherent, semi-magical talent. This pilot will have parent issues, two potential love interests, a true friend disguised as a rival, and so on. The best examples either take this formula in a radically new direction, or create such an engrossing world within these confines that you can’t help but immerse yourself in it.